~ Melanie Nickels is the founder of Raw Hair Organics, Rod'z Grooming For Men, Raw Curls, and the Raw Hair Organic Salon in Naples, Florida. She is an educator specializing in Non-Ammonia Hair Color and Curly Hair. Melanie is an American Board Certified Haircolorist, and an American Board of Certified Haircolorists Examiner. She does not own, nor is compensated by any hair color company. She does NOT sell hair color. All reviews are 100% unbiased.

For those of you who are new, or have never visited before, I’m Melanie Nickels, the Editor-In-Chief of The Hair Color Review website. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m sure you would like to know who I am and why I’m qualified to write these reviews, so here is my quick (albeit incomplete) bio:

I have been a stylist for right about 17 years. I am the founder of Raw Hair Organic Salon in Naples, Florida. It was the first organic/non toxic salon in all of South Florida. I still work about 50-60+ hours a week behind-the-chair there. I am the founder / creator of Raw Hair Organics and Rod’z Grooming For Men, both natural & organic salon quality products that are non-toxic, yet work just like traditional chemical based product lines. This coming June, I will be launching Raw Curls, a professional quality natural / organic line made specifically for “Curlies”. For more info on both lines, visit the website at www.rawhairorganics.com . I DO NOT SELL HAIR COLOR.

I am not only a ranking member of The American Board of Certified Master Haircolorists, I’m also an exam evaluator and educator for the organization. In addition to graduating from cosmotology school, I also have college degrees in Business Management and Accounting. I am internationally trained, was part of Inter Coiffure, a Broadway stylist on the hit show “42nd Street”, and certified by many companies way too numerous to mention here, but the likes of Deva, Quidad, Curlisto, and OCS. I am the Editor-in-Chief of another review website, Organic Hair Product Review.com which is at www.organichairproductreview.com . Later this spring, it will be merged with this review site. I teach nation-wide, including at shows like Premiere Orlando in 2013, ISSE Long Beach 2014, and The ABCH Energizing Summit in 2011 & 2012. I’m also teaching several classes, including hands-on workshops and a lecture at the ISSE show in Long Beach, California, January 2014, and a curly hair cutting 3 hour workshop at Premiere Orlando in June 2014. I’m also a contributing member of the elite Curly Hair Artistry group here in the United States. In addition to all of that, as I stated before, I still spend about 50-60 hours a week, every week, behind-the-chair doing hair color in my salon in Naples, Florida. I have worked with many, many hair color lines on the market, both ammonia and non-ammonia based. That is my simplified, basic bio. I would highly encourage you to follow me on Twitter, as I post there quite frequently and post a lot of things that I don’t post here…things that happen in my normal day of hair coloring. My Twitter handle is @RawHairOrganics (Melanie Nickels).

Today we are reviewing another non-ammonia hair color line. This one is Schwarzkopf Essensity. First, some history and background about the company and it’s founders:

Scwarzkopf is part of Henkel AG & Company.They are based in Dusseldorf, Germany. The company is about 112 years old, and has many, many facets. They include Dial soap and Purex laundry detergent.

For the sake of brevity, we are only going to focus on the Personal Care segment of their business, and more specifically, Schwarzkopf. They sell professionally to the trade, and focus on a “Two-Way” relationship with stylists and themselves as a company. They pride themselves on providing expert education, and exceptional customer technical support. (although they did not return any of my calls/emails/faxes about supporting my classes on non-ammonia hair color using the Essensity line as one of the colors the students got to work with. So the expense of buing the color was paid out of my own pocket. They also did not give out information on the percentages of the ingredients used like MEA etc.) As of January, 2014, Schwarzkopf has entered into an agreement in the U.K. to aggressively market some of their hair products, by means of sponsoring a daily prime time television show similar to “The View”, which we have in the United States.

More specifically, Schwarzkopf Essensity is their first try at a product in the permanent “Ammonia-Free” oil-color category, and utilizes phytolipid technology, in an effort to attain “real” color results, with a natural intensity and softness. I commend them for their effort! They use natural ingredients whenever possible, which is a great thing. I did not see the use of any organic ingredients at the time of this writing, which is about September of 2013 (that’s not to say that might not have changed by the time that you are reading this). They’ve made a concentrated effort to use renewable, naturally-derived ingredients instead of synthetic ones whenever possible. Their label claims they are free of ammonia, odor, silicones, paraffin/mineral oil, parabens, formaldehyde derivatives, alcohol, and artificial fragrances. The Essensity color line also uses a replacement for PPD’s as pigment and does not have any wheat in it. 🙂 From what I could find, only one of their related shampoos has sulfates, and I’m not sure why. I could not find an explanation for this. That being said, Schwarzkopf created a hair product line to go along with the color line, called Essensity Care. The first segment is Color & Repair, which is geared toward chemically over-processed and damaged hair. The second segment is Color & Moisture, geared toward dry, coarse hair. There are about 4-5 products in each segment of this line. Another interesting thing is that I found on the company website that in 2013 they did a haircolor test in 84 salons in Germany and 90 salons in Spain, with 1500 different color applications. The key numbers are these: 93% of the stylists were satisfied with Essensity, and 87% would recommend it to a fellow stylist. So, roughly 9 out of 10 stylists liked it in their 2013 test. Not bad (but biased, I’m sure). However, 1 in 10 had scalp irritation. That’s bad…but still not terrible.

One thing I always look at when considering a hair product company is their philanthropic endeavors. I like to see companies that are making billions of our hard-earned dollars doing something other than lining their pockets with it. As far as Schwarzkopf (or Henkel), I found that they do support a project called “Shaping Futures”, which helps to introduce disadvantaged youth around the world to the hairdressing profession. They do this with volunteer hairdressers (I assume ones that purchase Schwarzkopf products). In 2013, their North American sales alone topped $17,000,000, and they were very happy with these numbers (according to a report I found on the Financial Times website from January), and I think it’s safe to say they are making money in the U.S. That was the only philanthropic endeavor that I could find related to any of Henkel and / or Schwarzkopf organizations.

Now, let’s talk about my use of the actual Swarzkopf Essensity hair color.

I purchased the product, with my own money, without any discount, and took it to the Raw Hair Organic Salon in Naples, Florida, that I founded in 2007. Here’s what I found in my experience:

-Uses a special series of filtering processes for the water : “Pure Water”

-Uses “AMEA Technology”: this is a combination of 2 non-ammonia alkalizing agents:

AMP – Aminomethylpropanol (another PH Adjuster like MEA)

MEA-Monoethanolamine

-Uses Toluene 2-5 Diamine Sulfate (TDS) instead of PPD’s

-Contains Resorcinol

**I was unable to find out the percentages of these ingredients

-Colors more opaque, leaving a band.

-Good coverage

-Fades out quicker in ends and not as shiny as others

Up to 4 levels of lift

Great High lift blonds (but color creeps up hair shaft lifting off of scalp area as processing so have to back and brush down onto scalp again)

Color Mixed 1:2 and process room temp 30-45 min

Decent color selection , level numbering system similar, but tones different…confusing. I like to know is it, neutral, gold, copper, violet etc. more straight forward with the underlying tones in order to formulate.

Overall, I think this is a good option for a non-ammonia, PPD-free hair color line. It has very clean ingredients including no wheat, gives good gray coverage, has great high lift blonds and a lightening system, & processes at room temperature. The thick consistency is easy to work with, and good for those that are used to color lines such as Framesi that are thick with a heavy dye load. As you will see in my video, the high lift blonds ( or color with 38 vol developer for that matter) creep up the hair and off of the root making it necessary to go back after applying and brush the color back down unto the scalp. That is kind of strange, but I can deal with it……just good to know so you don’t apply and walk away. Color selection is minimal, but sufficient to work with. Results are just a little flat or not as shiney as some other lines. I have not had anyone have any adverse reactions to this color so that is a positive.

I give this color line a rating of 4 on my scale of 1-5.

Thank you for joining me once again and taking the time to read my Schwarzkopf Essensity Color Review. I hope you find this information helpful.

Hello again, and THANK YOU very much for visiting my Organic Hair Color Review website. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Melanie Nickels, a ranking member, exam evaluator, and the only organic educator in the American Board of Certified Hair Colorists organization here in the U.S. I am the founder of the first organic / non-toxic salon in Southwest Florida, Raw Hair Organic Salon in Naples. I am also the creator / founder of Raw Hair Organics, a professional natural / organic hair products line. I hold college degrees in both accounting and business, as well as being a 16+ year professional stylist & salon owner…and that’s just the beginning! For a full bio on me, click back to the home page and you can read a whole lot more about me and my background. I DO NOT SELL HAIR COLOR.

This weeks review is of the new Chi Ionic Permanent Shine hair color by Farouk Systems, based here in the United States. The story of how Farouk came to be is a good one. Here’s a quick summary:

First off, Farouk Sami is the richest hairdresser in history (his words, not mine). He is worth about $3 billion dollars (yes, BILLION with a B). It’s truly a rags-to-riches story. He came here from Palestine for college, planning on studying to become a teacher like his father. But a part-time job in a hair salon changed everything. He liked being around people and making them happy. In 1981, he opened his first salon in North Houston, Texas. He had gained quite a following as a colorist, but was allergic to the ammonia. Thus, he developed his own color line, and the next thing he knew he had distributors knocking at his door. It wasn’t long after that he was making in the high millions (dollars, that is). Now, he manufactures CHI salon tools (hair dryers, flat irons, etc…at as much as $300 a pop), as well his hair product lines. He manufactures about a million bottles a day…which he says “is better than printing money.” He has warehouses in Houston, Texas, South Korea, Belgium, and the Middle East. He sells in 92 countries world-wide. I was glad to hear that after about 7 years of manufacturing his CHI salon tools in China, he has started moving all of those operations back to the U.S.A. That alone is a good reason to support his business. Although his is a passionate & active supporter of Palestine, he is an American citizen of 47 years, and a true, red-blooded Texan, right down to his bright red signature boots. He is a flashy old guy, driving a bright red new Lamborghini and not shy in the least to brag a bit about his riches. At 70 years old, he’s not showing any signs of slowing down. Quite the contrary: at this point, he and his team of researchers are trying to create a blow dryer that actually GROWS hair….good luck with that 😉 . Mr. Shami introduced ammonia-free hair color to the industry 25 years ago, although there seems to be many hair color companies out there right now who claim they were the first…even though they may have only been around 2-3 years or so. As far as my research is concerned, his statement is probably accurate.

I purchased, with my own money, some of the Chi Ionic Permanent Shine Hair Color for this review, and took it to my Naples, Florida salon, Raw Hair Organic Salon, to try it out for myself. I also went through a training class with a friend and co-worker hosted by one of the Farouk educators. According the company, it’s ammonia-free, formulated without PPD, has no parabens, is anti-fade, provides 100% gray coverage, as well as richer, more vibrant reds & firery coppers…and doesn’t smell.

The product contains ethanolamin and resorcinol, but indeed, I did not find ammonia or ammonia derivatives (sic) on the label, nor does it have any wheat for those concerned about that. The PPD, which is pigment, is replaced with TDS (Toluene 2,5 Diamine Sulfate). This is considered a “cousin” to PPD and thought to be less of an allergenic. The product uses silk, oil, and aloe as ingredients as well. The color is a 1:1 mixing procedure, which is very simple compared to some other lines. One part Chi Color Generator and one part Chi Ionic Permanent Hair Color is the rate at which you formulate. The color comes in 3 oz tubes (85g for those of you outside of the U.S.), and one 3 ounce tube equals 2 applications. The tubes are marked in 1//2 ounce increments, which again makes for easy measuring. I was told to massage the tube to mix the silk and oils before using. The developers are a cream consistency so when mixed with the color, you get a thicker frosting like working consistency. This is good for bowl & brush application, not for bottles. NOTE: This is a PROFESSIONAL color line, and it is NOT intended for anything other than professional use. I did a little research online and did indeed find sources selling it to retail customers. However, when I read the feedback, I found a 14 year old girl who bought some, and when she opened it up was upset because “there were no instructions” (no kidding).

There are a couple different lines within the Chi Color line so that can be a little confusing, but we are referring to the Standard Series right now. There is a good selection of colors: 82 plus 8 pre-mixed additives. I found it to be true that it did not have a smell and it covered gray well, fading was minimal, and the hair was nice and shiny. Processing time is 30 min room temperature for normal or 45 min for resistant. Or, you can use low heat for 15 min, and room temp for 20 min. I processed all of mine at room temp for 30 min.

As much as I and my co-worker wanted to totally love this color line, unfortunately, there were a few negative experiences that I have to acknowledge. I used this color on my own hair, like I most often do before using it on any clients. I was one that experienced some irritation. My scalp itched while it was processing. The longer it stayed on, the more it got itchy, so after 30 minutes I couldn’t wait to rinse it off. Once I rinsed it and shampooed, my scalp was fine. All but 2 of my clients (who had mild itching) were fine with no reactions. My co-worker, on the other hand, had several clients that had itching with this color and a couple that had severe allergic reactions with burning. These were clients that have been coloring their hair professionally for many years with ammonia haircolor and had not previously had any issues.

The other part of the Chi Color line that I worked with is the Chi Infra Environmental Cream Color. It is an ammonia-free, non-oxidizing system with 19 colors. There is High Lift and No Lift. The Infra High Lift Cream Color provides up to 8 levels of lift and tones in one step. The Infra No Lift Cream Color is deposit only. In the High Lift, there are 3 blondes, 3 reds, and 3 browns. I used the High Lift Blondes. The key points they state for the Chi Infra Environmental High Lift Cream Color is: it’s ammonia free, oil based, lifts and deposits, has the ionic and far infared technology that lightens from the inside out, and it can lift previously colored hair.

It comes in a tube and is mixed 1:1 with the chosen color generator. Processing time varies (from up to 10 min under low heat to up to 25 min under low heat) and 5 min cool down, according to how much lift you want. I have also processed at room temp just fine. The consistency is fluffy like cool-whip, and it does leave an oily residue in the bowl after rinsing. I have liked how this product works for highlighting. It is easy to work with, it lifts the hair quickly and the tones are nice, and the hair seems in good condition for high lighting.

My co-worker on the other hand, did not have such a great experience with the Infras. She used one of the the High Lift Browns and she and her client both noticed it had a terrible smell to it (Strange)! Then, the stylist went to rinse her bowls while the client was processing and when the color in the bowl mixed with the water, it started turning a BRIGHT cobalt blue. The more she tried to rinse it, the more it stained…the bowl, the cleaning brush, the sink, and her hands. Needless to say, she literally sprinted down the hall to rinse and shampoo the color off of her clients hair. Luckily, the client had medium brown hair and it did not stain or take the cobalt blue color. I took some pictures and will include those in this posting. We are not sure if that was just a bad tube of color or if there seems to be some kind of chemical reaction when it is mixed with our Florida water, which depending on the time of year and the water tables, can be a bit aggressive. Regardless, neither one of us was willing to try that one again. I have however continued to use the Infra blondes after that without problems.

So there you have it. Overall, I think this is a decent non-ammonia haircolor line as far as the level of toxicity, but there seem to be a few glitches we experienced to be aware of. Everyone is different as far as sensitivites so what might bother one person may be fine for another.

Please, if you are looking to try a non-ammonia color line, or are looking for quality salon-professional products and/or tools, by all means try Chi. They deserve our business. It’s clear that they are trying to do the right things, and are putting people, health, and America as country first above profits. They are moving jobs back to the United States from overseas at a time when a majority of U.S. companies are leaving. They are spending considerable amounts of money on research & development of innovative products for our industry at a point in Farouk’s career where he could just as easily walk away and spend his billions pampering himself. But he’s not. And that’s commendable. And he deserves to be recognized for that.

I welcome comments, as well as suggestions for color lines or products that my readers would like to see reviewed. Feel free to email me with questions as well, and I will always do my best to respond.

Until next time, here’s to great, healthy hair….and great, healthy hair stylists.

For those of you who are new, I’m Melanie Nickels, a ranking member / educator / evaluator of The American Board of Certified Hair Colorists. I am the only organic / non-toxic educator in the ABCH organization. I am the founder / creator of Raw Hair Organics, a line of organic / natural professional quality hair products that WORK just like traditional chemical-based ones. You can read more about it at www.rawhairorganics.com . I am the founder of the first organic / non-toxic salon in South Florida, the Raw Hair Organic Salon in Naples, Florida. I was internationally trained, as well as part of Inter-Coiffure, a Broadway stylist on the hit show “42nd Street”, and have many certifications and training much to numerous to list here. I spend no less than 60 hours a week, every week, behind the chair, hands-on in my salon, the Raw Hair Organic Salon in Naples, Florida. I have two college degrees: One in Business, and One in Accounting. My hair color reviews are read in and reach no less than 50 CountriesWorld-Wide every single day of the year by industry professionals of all ranks, as well as salon clients, etc. If you would like to know more about me, you can find a more detailed bio on the homepage of this site (which I will be updating). I DO NOT SELL HAIR COLOR.

I do NOT work for, nor do I own or represent a hair color company. I am NOT compensated in ANY way by ANY hair color company. When I review a hair color line, I purchase the product WITH MY OWN MONEY. I do not receive free product from manufacturers, as I feel this creates an inherent bias right from the start.

Ok, I should have started with this discussion to talk about MEA vs. Ammonia (or the difference between MEA and Ammonia, if you will) a long time ago. So lets go back to the basics and get into what is used in haircolor and why:

Let me begin by saying I am not a chemist, so I am giving you the facts as a professional, working haircolorist with a lot of experience in haircolor and ingredient knowledge from working with chemists on a regular basis for the last several years. I, like most people in the industry, had been taught over the years that MEA is bad….that it doesn’t rinse from the hair and it dries it out over time. Boy, was shocked to find out the hair color I’ve been using contains MEA because my experience was quite the contrary! I have used MEA and Ammonia BOTH, for MANY years. I find that there is a lot of misinformation out there being shared by people who either a) have an agenda either for or against MEA or Ammonia, and b) people who don’t have a vast background using BOTH for an extended period of time (or don’t work behind the chair AT ALL) thus, in my professional opinion, their opinions are worthless to you and me as working professionals. Frankly, this is why I started http://www.organichaircolorreview.com in the first place.

Hair has a natural ph of 4.5-5.5. So in order to color the hair, there needs to be an alkaline agent to raise or adjust the ph so the color can penetrate the cuticle and get to the cortex.

Ammonia has been the ingredient of choice in hair color for many years because it is good at doing that….typically raising the ph to 10-10.5. However, the problem is that ammonia is aggressive on the hair, it is a strong irritating gas that gives off fumes, and when it disolves in water it forms ammonium hydroxide which is highly corrosive. There are several reports on the possible health risks on this topic from sources like the Dept. of Health and the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, and Canadian Centre for Occupational Health & Safety.

Another problem that arises from using ammonia as the ph adjuster in hair color is that because it is more aggressive on the hair which causes loss of protein and moisture, it damages the cuticle. This leads to the problem of higher porosity, which means the cuticle is not closing down properly and you have increased difficulties with color fadage.

So what is MEA? The official terminology is Monoethanolamine. It is in the family of Ethanolamines. It is an organic chemical compound that is a primary amine and primary alcohol. It can be toxic, flammable, and corrosive at high amounts. However, the International Agency for Research on Cancer have decided that ethanolamines do NOT pose a cancer risk to humans. According to the European Chemical Industry Council, it is a clear viscous, liquid derived from reacted ethylene oxide and …aqueous ammonia. There is also a Cocomide MEA which is fatty acids in coconut oil reacted with MEA. Confused? So basically, it is used as a replacement ph adjuster in haircolor that is considered ammonia-free and used at lower percentages and coupled with emollient oils, making it less volatile and less corrosive than ammonia. That being said, just like any other ingredient, there can be different amounts of MEA used and/or it can be used in conjunction with other ingredients like alcohol in order to perform. The same rule applies to any ingredient that is replacing ammonia or that is used to raise the ph. The more that is used, the higher the ph, the more damage. Other ingredients being used in a similar way are AMEA (Aminomethylpropanol & Monoethanolamine), and AMP (Amino Methyl Propanol).

It’s interesting that the people (meaning manufacturers) who have been or are supportive / defensive about ammonia as used in hair coloring have been lowering the amount of ammonia in their hair color lines, or are now creating products that are ammonia free, but have been trying to find or use an alternative ingredient to MEA since they have been bashing it for all these years and know now they will look like hypocrites if they do use MEA. I also find it interesting the amount of people (stylists & colorists) that have been putting products like Sweet & Low in their haircolor in order to reduce the amount of irritation on their clients scalps and thinking this is OK. (REALLY??) I have had MANY well respected haircolorists tell me the ammonia doesn’t bother them. I always respond, “well, how about your clients?” We all have had them asking for a comb or something to scratch their heads while color was processing! What does THAT tell you??!!

Ph levels are compounding, meaning each little increment it goes up is exponential. So the difference between 9 and 10 is huge! The magic number for working ph for color seems to be 9. It is enough to open and penetrate through the cuticle without causing damage

Now that I’ve laid the groundwork, let’s get to the big theory that has been floating around the hair industry forever about MEA. It is claimed that MEA does not rinse from the hair, and that it dries the hair out. This is yet to be proven to me, in theory or in the salon, as I have had many debates with very well respected colleagues within the ABCH (The American Board of Certified Hair Colorists) as well as others, on this topic. Speaking from MY experience behind the chair using a hair color with MEA in it for over 7 years, every day, I have seen nothing but the opposite in my clients hair! I have not had any problems rinsing and shampooing the color, and therefore the MEA, from the hair. All of my salon hair color clients can visibly see the difference in their hair of how much healthier and shinier their hair is after they stopped using ammonia hair color on it. ALL of them. Literally hundreds of clients.

Also, while we are on the topic of MEA, another little fact I like to point out is that hairstylists favorite demi, non-ammonia hair color of all time: (Redken Shades EQ) that has been used to freshen/tone/glaze the ends of the hair because it is less damagingand gentler has…….guess what…….MEA in it!!! Hmmm…

Let me make that clear: Redken Shades EQ has MEA in it

So there you have it. In a nutshell, there needs to be some kind of alkaline agent in hair color to raise the ph in order to be able to color hair. Different sources can be used to achieve this function. As I like to say, are any of them perfect? No. But some seem better for me to work with than others. You take your pick. But now, you can finally make an educated choice.